Cain accused

We’ve been following Herman Cain since the start of the Republican nomination race, and seen him rise to prominence in the process. But now there’s an extra obstacle between him and a shot at the presidency — and it could be a biggie. Politico reports that at least two women accused Cain of sexual harassment when he was CEO of the National Restaurant Association in the 90s:

“The women complained of sexually suggestive behavior by Cain that made them angry and uncomfortable, the sources said, and they signed agreements with the restaurant group that gave them financial payouts to leave the association. The agreements also included language that bars the women from talking about their departures.”

The Cain has campaign issued a statement accusing Politico of “unsubstantiated personal attacks on Cain”:

“Dredging up thinly sourced allegations stemming from Mr. Cain’s tenure as the Chief Executive Officer at the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, political trade press are now casting aspersions on his character and spreading rumors that never stood up to the facts. Since Washington establishment critics haven’t had much luck in attacking Mr. Cain’s ideas to fix a bad economy and create jobs, they are trying to attack him in any way they can. Sadly, we’ve seen this movie played out before – a prominent Conservative targeted by liberals simply because they disagree with his politics. Mr. Cain — and all Americans, deserve better.”

While this stopped short of explicitly denying the allegations, a campaign spokesman later told the AP that, “These are baseless allegations. To my knowledge, this is not an accurate story.” And Cain’s chief of staff Mark Block has just gone further, saying “Herman Cain has never sexually harassed anybody. Period. End of story.”

It is possible for a candidate to withstand such allegations, as did Bill Clinton and Arnold Schwarzenegger. But if this does burst the Herman Cain bubble, it’ll mark the demise of yet another potential alternative to Mitt Romney.

UPDATE: Cain has just responded directly to the allegations on Fox News, saying “I have never sexually harassed anyone” and that he was “falsely accused”. See the video at the top of this post.